WavCast Privacy Policy

WavCast is built to be private by default. It requires no account, runs no first-party analytics, and keeps your library on your device. The one place data leaves your phone in normal use is Google AdMob, our advertising partner in the free tier. On Android there is also an optional cloud sync that is off until you turn it on. This policy explains exactly what each of those involves and how to turn them off.

Short version

• We do not run analytics. We do not track which screens you view, what you play, or how long you listen.
• WavCast has no user accounts. We never ask for your name, email, or phone number.
• Your subscriptions, listening progress, bookmarks, folders, and preferences live on your device. On iPhone they sync privately through Apple's CloudKit to your own iCloud account. On Android, sync is optional and off by default. Either way we never read that data.
• WavCast is free and ad-supported through Google AdMob. The one-time Remove Ads purchase, or a WavCast Plus subscription, disables AdMob entirely on your device.
• Personalized ads are your choice. iPhone asks through App Tracking Transparency, Android shows Google's consent form where the law requires it, and both systems let you opt out at any time.
• We never sell your personal information.
• You can delete everything WavCast holds. See Delete your data below.

Where your data lives

When you subscribe to a podcast, mark an episode played, save a bookmark, organize folders, or change a setting, that data is stored on your device.

On iPhone, it also syncs privately to your personal iCloud account using Apple's CloudKit. It stays inside Apple's infrastructure and never reaches a server we control. If you sign out of iCloud or delete the app, the data remains in your iCloud until you remove it in iOS Settings.

On Android, cloud sync is off by default. If you turn it on in Settings, Cloud sync, WavCast stores your subscriptions, radio favorites, bookmarks, folders, and playback progress in Google Firebase (Cloud Firestore), under an anonymous identifier that Firebase creates for that install. That identifier is not tied to your name, email, Google account, or any other account, and we do not read, sell, or analyze the synced data. It is used only to move your library between your own devices. Turn sync off at any time in Settings, and see Delete your data to remove the copy that is already in the cloud.

If you pick a city in the News tab, the city name and country code are stored locally on your device and synced the same way, never to a server we run.

Advertising (Google AdMob)

WavCast displays banner ads in its free tier through Google AdMob. AdMob may collect your device's advertising identifier, coarse device information, ad-interaction data, and crash or diagnostic reports from its own SDK, under Google's privacy policy at policies.google.com/privacy. We do not use that data ourselves. Buying the one-time Remove Ads purchase, or subscribing to WavCast Plus, disables AdMob entirely on your device.

Personalized ads and tracking

On iPhone, iOS asks on first launch whether WavCast may track you across apps and websites. This prompt exists for AdMob. If you allow it, AdMob uses your Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) to serve personalized ads. If you decline, AdMob serves only non-personalized ads. You can change your choice in iOS Settings, Privacy and Security, Tracking, WavCast.

On Android, WavCast shows Google's consent form (the User Messaging Platform) on first launch in regions where it is required, such as the EU and UK, and you can change your answer later from Settings inside the app. AdMob may use your Android advertising ID for personalized ads only with that consent. You can also reset the ID or opt out of ad personalization for every app in Android Settings, Google, Ads, and Android lets you delete the advertising ID entirely.

Location (only on Detect My City)

When you tap "Detect My City" in the News tab, your phone asks for location permission, one-time on iPhone and approximate (coarse) on Android. WavCast uses the resulting coordinates exactly once to reverse-geocode them into a city name, then immediately discards the coordinates. The resolved city name is stored on your device, and your device includes that city or region name in the requests it makes to public news feeds so it can fetch local headlines. Precise location is never requested, and location data is never sent to a server we run. You can skip detection and pick a city manually.

Microphone and speech recognition (only on Generate Transcript)

When you ask WavCast to generate a transcript for a downloaded episode that does not already include one, the audio is processed by your phone's own on-device speech recognition, Apple's on iPhone and Android's on-device recognizer on Android. The audio never leaves your device, and the resulting transcript is stored locally. Android requires the microphone permission to use its recognizer at all, even though WavCast feeds it the episode's audio and never records you. If on-device recognition is not available on your phone, the feature simply reports that it is unavailable rather than sending audio anywhere.

On-device AI

Episode summaries and clip blurbs are generated on your phone, with Apple Intelligence on iPhone and Google's on-device models on Android. Transcripts and summaries are not uploaded to us or to a cloud model. If your phone cannot run these models, the feature is unavailable rather than falling back to a server.

Content sources

When you play a podcast, listen to a radio stream, or open a news headline, your device fetches that content directly from the publisher, station, or news source. Those providers may log your IP address under their own privacy practices. WavCast does not proxy or intermediate this traffic and does not see it. Podcast search uses the open Podcast Index, radio search uses the Radio-Browser directory, and some news sources use Google News' RSS endpoint as a proxy for publisher coverage that lacks a direct feed. All of those requests are made by your device directly, governed by each provider's privacy policy.

Purchases

Remove Ads and WavCast Plus are billed through Apple's App Store on iPhone and through Google Play on Android. Apple or Google handles the payment, and we never see your card, Apple ID, or Google account. Your purchase status is stored on your device and can be restored on your other devices with the same store account using Restore Purchases in the app.

Notifications and alarms

If you allow notifications, WavCast uses them for new-episode alerts, download completion, and radio alarms. Notifications are generated on your device from feeds it fetches itself. There is no push server and nothing about your notification settings leaves your phone. On Android, radio alarms also ask for permission to schedule exact alarms so a station can start at the minute you set.

Permissions WavCast may request

• Location, only when you tap Detect My City. Used once, then discarded. Approximate only on Android.
• Microphone and speech recognition, only when you generate a transcript on device.
• Notifications, optional, for new-episode alerts and radio alarms.
• Exact alarms (Android), optional, so radio alarms fire on time.
• Tracking (iPhone) or ad consent (Android), asked once, for AdMob personalized ads. Optional.

What WavCast does not collect

• We do not collect your name, email, phone number, or contacts.
• We do not run first-party analytics or telemetry.
• We do not read your synced library data, on iCloud or on Firebase.
• We do not use your advertising identifier for anything other than AdMob ad serving.
• We do not upload audio, transcripts, or summaries.

Children

WavCast is a general audio app and is not directed to children under 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us and we will address it.

Delete your data

WavCast has no accounts, so there is no account to close. Here is how to remove everything the app holds, on each platform.

1. On your device. Delete or uninstall WavCast. That removes your library, downloads, transcripts, settings, and purchase cache from the phone.
2. iCloud (iPhone). To remove the synced copy, sign out of iCloud or delete the WavCast container in iOS Settings, Apple ID, iCloud, Manage Storage, WavCast. We cannot see or delete this data ourselves.
3. Cloud sync (Android). Open WavCast, go to Settings, Cloud sync, and turn it off so no new data is uploaded. Then email contact@jcmobileappstudio.com with the subject "Delete my WavCast data", or use the WavCast support form, and tell us the approximate date you first turned sync on. Because synced data is stored under an anonymous identifier rather than your name, we may ask you to confirm from inside the app. We delete the synced subscriptions, radio favorites, bookmarks, folders, playback progress, and the anonymous identifier within 30 days and confirm by email.
4. Advertising data. AdMob's records are held by Google, not by us. Reset or delete your advertising ID in Android Settings, Google, Ads, or revoke tracking in iOS Settings, Privacy and Security, Tracking.

What is kept after a deletion request: nothing on our side. Purchase records stay with Apple or Google under their own policies so your Remove Ads or Plus purchase can be restored later.

Your rights

Because WavCast stores your content on your device and we hold no account data, there is nothing for us to access or correct on our servers, and deletion works as described above. If you are a California resident (CCPA / CPRA), a resident of the EU or UK (GDPR), or covered by a similar law, the same applies, and you may contact us with any questions or requests.

Data security

WavCast data lives on your device and, if you use sync, in your own iCloud account or in Firebase under an anonymous identifier. Every connection the app makes uses HTTPS. Security therefore depends primarily on your device's platform protections, your passcode, Face ID, Touch ID, or fingerprint, and the security of your Apple ID or Google account. We recommend two-factor authentication on those accounts and a strong device passcode.

Contact

Questions or requests: contact@jcmobileappstudio.com

Changes

If this policy ever changes, we will update the "Last updated" line above and post a new version at this URL.